Jon Copley is Associate Professor of Marine Ecology at the University of Southampton, and the first British person to dive to a depth of five kilometres in the ocean. As a marine biologist, his research explores environments such as volcanic vents on the ocean floor, where his team and colleagues have discovered several new species of deep-sea creatures during recent expeditions. His work also involves teaching and writing, and he is co-founder of a company that trains scientists in how to share their research with wider public audiences.

Caspar Henderson is a writer and journalist. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Independent, New Scientist, the New York Review of Books. He received the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors in 2009 and the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award in 2010. He is the author of The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, a bestiary for the 21st Century, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science.